Taylor was making his first appearance of the year on the circuit, having only competed so far in the Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts.
He bounced back to form in that competition with an 8-0 whitewash of Wayne Mardle on Thursday, and was in imperious form in Brentwood.
Taylor won four matches, including his semi-final against Stoke rival Adrian Lewis, without dropping a leg, and saw off Mardle once again at the quarter-final stage.
He then swept past world number three James Wade 3-0 in the final, dropping just one leg in taking the £5,000 winner's cheque.
Wade had started the day with a near-miss at an attempted nine-darter in his opening win over Tony Littleton, missing double 12 for a perfect leg, and came from two sets down to defeat Andy Hamilton in a deciding leg in the semis.
Kevin Painter and World Champion John Part were both early casualties, losing in their first games to Pete Allen and Kevin McDine respectively, with the latter going on to reach the quarter-finals before losing to Hamilton.
Lewis went all the way in his wins over Adrian Gray and Andy Smith to reach the semis.
Van der Rassel's run to the last 16 was his best display since the Ladbrokes.com PDC World Darts Championship, while Martyn Turner knocked out Colin Lloyd on his way to the same stage.
Southern Players Championship
| Final Phil Taylor 3-0 James Wade (2-1, 2-0, 2-0) Winner £5,000 Runner-Up £2,500
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| Semi-Finals Phil Taylor 3-0 Adrian Lewis James Wade 3-2 Andy Hamilton Losers £1,250 |
| Quarter-Finals Phil Taylor 3-0 Wayne Mardle Adrian Lewis 3-1 Mervyn King James Wade 3-1 Roland Scholten Andy Hamilton 3-0 Kevin McDine Losers £600 |
| Fourth Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Chris Mason Wayne Mardle 3-1 Martyn Turner Adrian Lewis 3-2 Andy Smith Mervyn King 3-0 Terry Jenkins James Wade 3-2 Jan van der Rassel Roland Scholten 3-1 Vincent van der Voort Andy Hamilton 3-1 Steve Hine Kevin McDine 3-1 Alan Tabern Losers £300 |
| Third Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Steve Maish Chris Mason 3-2 Colin Osborne Wayne Mardle 3-0 John MaGowan Martyn Turner 3-0 Colin Lloyd Adrian Lewis 3-2 Adrian Gray Andy Smth 3-0 Dave Smith Terry Jenkins 3-2 Tony Eccles Mervyn King 3-1 Gary Noonan James Wade 3-0 Alan Warriner-Little Jan van der Rassel 3-1 Brendan Dolan Roland Scholten 3-1 Ricky Williams Vincent van der Voort 3-0 Barrie Bates Andy Hamilton 3-1 Wayne Atwood Steve Hine 3-1 Peter Manley Kevin McDine 3-0 Peter Wright Alan Tabern 3-2 Carlos Rodriguez Losers £150 |
| Second Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Tony Ayres Steve Maish 3-1 Jason Crawley Colin Osborne 3-1 Joey Palfreyman Chris Mason 3-1 Dennis Smith Wayne Mardle 3-1 Gary Welding John MaGowan 3-0 Mick McGowan Colin Lloyd 3-2 Kevin Dowling Martyn Turner 3-1 Lee Williams Adrian Lewis 3-1 Mark Tiller Adrian Gray 3-2 Jamie Robinson Dave Smith 3-2 Denis Ovens Andy Smith 3-1 Russell Mason Terry Jenkins 3-0 Mark Carter Tony Eccles 3-1 Colin Monk Gary Noonan 3-1 Pete Allen Mervyn King 3-1 Ian Walters James Wade 3-0 Andy Mason Alan Warriner-Little 3-0 Stuart Holden Jan van der Rassel 3-2 Ronnie Baxter Brendan Dolan 3-1 Shayne Burgess Roland Scholten 3-0 Graeme Stoddart Ricky Williams 3-0 Steve Beaton Barrie Bates 3-1 Chris Thompson Vincent van der Voort 3-0 Danny Pinhorne Andy Hamilton 3-0 Lee Palfreyman Wayne Atwood 3-1 Mark Walsh Peter Manley 3-2 John Ferrell Steve Hine 3-1 Wes Newton Kevin McDine 3-1 David Platt Peter Wright 3-1 Dave Askew Alan Tabern 3-0 Michael Barnard Carlos Rodriguez 3-0 Kirk Shepherd Losers £75 |
| First Round Phil Taylor 3-0 Rico Vonck Tony Ayres 3-0 Chris Sargeant Steve Maish 3-0 Ian Jopling Jason Crawley 3-2 Lionel Sams Colin Osborne 3-0 Alan Green Joey Palfreyman 3-0 Geoff Daniels Chris Mason 3-2 Richard Foster Dennis Smith 3-2 Alan Caves Wayne Mardle 3-0 Ian Lever Gary Welding 3-0 Ben Burton Mick McGowan 3-1 Richard Plowman John MaGowan 3-0 Matt Chapman Colin Lloyd 3-1 Michael van Gerwen Kevin Dowling 3-0 Peter Edmonds Lee Williams 3-2 Alex Roy Martyn Turner 3-0 Dave Ansell Adrian Lewis 3-0 John Quantock Mark Tiller 3-2 Dave Honey Adrian Gray 3-0 Ian Harford Jamie Robinson 3-1 Bob Crawley Denis Ovens 3-0 Darren Richardson Dave Smith Bye (Colin McGarry) Andy Smith 3-0 Darrell Thorpe Russell Mason 3-2 Owen Caffrey Terry Jenkins 3-2 Jamie Caven Mark Carter 3-0 Darrell Townsend Tony Eccles 3-2 Wayne Jones Colin Monk 3-0 Gary Barnett Pete Allen 3-0 Kevin Painter Gary Noonan 3-1 Mark Jones Mervyn King 3-0 Steve Smith Ian Walters 3-0 Jim Leighton James Wade 3-0 Tony Littleton Andy Mason 3-0 Gary Witcombe Alan Warriner-Little 3-1 Paul Williams Stuart Holden 3-2 Mark Jodrill Ronnie Baxter 3-1 Simon Craven Jan van der Rassel 3-1 Lee Holden Brendan Dolan 3-2 Mark Dudbridge Shayne Burgess 3-2 Jimmy O'Regan Roland Scholten 3-1 Dan Olson Graeme Stoddart 3-2 Kevin Reade Steve Beaton 3-0 Jelle Klaasen Ricky Williams 3-1 Danny King Barrie Bates 3-0 Ian Critchett Chris Thompson 3-1 Nick Fulwell Vincent van der Voort 3-2 Dale Pinch Danny Pinhorne 3-2 Jason Barry Andy Hamilton Bye (Colin Ritchie) Lee Palfreyman 3-1 Andrew Gourlay Mark Walsh 3-2 Steve Johnson Wayne Atwood 3-1 Sean White Peter Manley 3-1 Brian Jones John Ferrell 3-0 Jonathan Overton Wes Newton 3-2 Darren Green Steve Hine 3-0 Peter Aleman Kevin McDine 3-2 John Part David Platt 3-2 Robert Watson-Lang Dave Askew 3-0 Simon Pratt Peter Wright 3-1 Nigel Birch Alan Tabern 3-2 Simon Whatley Michael Barnard 3-2 Darren Moulsley Kirk Shepherd 3-1 Pat Orreal Carlos Rodriguez 3-1 Stephen Hardy |
| Preliminary Round Ian Jopling 3-0 Steve Grubb Lionel Sams 3-0 Steve Cupitt Richard Foster 3-1 Martin Burchell Dennis Smith Bye (Andreas Muller) Gary Welding 3-1 Tom Martin Richard Plowman Bye (Kevin Hill) John MaGowan 3-1 Mark Lawrence Kevin Dowling 3-1 Gary Mawson Lee Williams 3-2 Richard McLaughlin Martyn Turner 3-0 Gary Blades Dave Honey 3-0 Jon Archer Ian Harford Bye (Steve Evans) Jamie Robinson 3-2 Mick Savvery Dave Smith 3-0 Karl Loiseau Darrell Thorpe 3-0 Darren Johnson Russell Mason 3-2 Darren Latham Mark Carter 3-2 Alan Reynolds Tony Eccles 3-0 Stuart Stubbs Colin Monk 3-0 Chris Daglish Gary Noonan 3-0 Ian Eames Steve Smith 3-2 Dan Cook Ian Walters 3-0 Chris Cooper Paul Williams 3-0 Darren Sutton Mark Jodrill 3-2 Ben Simpson Brendan Dolan 3-0 Yves Cottenge Shayne Burgess 3-0 Robbie Newland Graeme Stoddart 3-1 Paul Knighton Jelle Klaasen 3-0 Steve Lane Danny King 3-0 Kieran Leal Chris Thompson 3-2 Kevin Harris Dale Pinch 3-0 Aaron Monk Jason Barry 3-0 Lee White Lee Palfreyman 3-1 Michael Smith Steve Johnson 3-0 Rick Andrews Sean White 3-2 Steve Cusick John Ferrell 3-1 Sean Dowling Darren Green Bye (Shane Passey) Peter Aleman 3-1 Steve Brown David Platt 3-1 Peter Walford Simon Pratt 3-2 Jimmy Dunlop Peter Wright 3-2 Matt Clark Michael Barnard 3-2 Geoff Wylie Pat Orreal 3-2 Daniel Sare Carlos Rodriguez 3-0 Dave Ladley |